Saving the Savior
by Leggo My Lego Harry Potter
Summary: The Potter Trust Vault has many protections.  Too bad Lucius Malfoy didn't know.
1. Prologue: Trust Vault Mayhem

Note: This story will be based on actions of my characters in Free Play or otherwise inspired by the characters in my 'party' in a particular scene. There is no guarantee that I will finish this story, but I will put a list on my profile of stories I've given up on, if anyone else would like to adopt them.

Idea: 1st Year - Gringotts Vaults - Harry steps into vault and immediately turns into Lucius Malfoy?

Pairings: None

Word Count: 653

* * *

Harry looked at all the gold in his vault in wonder.

"This is all mine?" he asked.

"Yep," Hagrid said. "Now go an' get some galleons – the gold ones." Harry stepped towards the vault. He stepped into it slowly. A few steps in, he gave out a cry and hit his knees. "Wha?" Hagrid moved to help Harry but Griphook stopped him.

"That wouldn't happen if he were truly Harry Potter."

"Wha'dya mean if he were truly Harry Potter?" And then Harry began changing, his body lengthening, along with his hair, which also turned from pitch black to silvery platinum blonde. A few moments later, Lucius Malfoy stood in the place of Harry Potter. Malfoy glanced at both of them.

"Bugger."

"Malfoy? Wha' are you doing 'ere? Where's Harry?"

"You'll never find the little brat," Malfoy hissed out. Several goblins, wearing armor and carrying weapons, appeared behind the vault.

"Mr. Malfoy," Griphook said, "I'm afraid we're going to have to take you into custody."

"Who the hell puts high security vault protections on a bloody trust vault?" Malfoy exclaimed as they led him away.

"Apparently the Potters," one of the goblins answered him. Malfoy glared at the goblin in question.

"I don' understand? Where's Harry at?"

"I am unsure Mr. Hagrid. Rest assured however, Mr. Potter is one of our more wealthy clients. We will most certainly do anything we can, and possibly quite a bit of what we're not supposed to, to get him back. We'll have to if we want to keep our reputation as the best. Now, let us go to vault 713."

* * *

"What do mean, missing?" Dumbledore asked.

"I picked up Harry like you said, only he was Lucius bloody Malfoy in disguise," Hagrid answered.

"Oh dear. This isn't good. Where is Malfoy now?"

"The goblins have him in custody. The ministry don' know yet. The goblins wanted to tell the Prophet that he was caught trying to break into Harry's vault, so the ministry won' fight hard to get him back and then jus' let him off."

Just then, two owls flew into the room, both carrying the Daily Prophet. One flew to Hagrid, and the other to Dumbledore. Splayed across the front page of the newspaper was:

_**SPECIAL EDITION  
DAILY PROPHET**_

_**Malfoy Attempts to Steal from Boy-Who-Lived!**_

"Oh, he's not going to be happy about tha'," Hagrid said, with a vicious grin. "Ain' no one gonna wanna be friendly with him now."

"No, I suppose not," Dumbledore said. "Not if they want to remain in the good of the public eye." Directly under the headlines, the article started:

_Earlier today, says Gringotts spokesgoblin, Lucius Malfoy was apprehended by guard-goblins while trying to break into one of Gringotts vaults. But not just any vault, no, he was trying to break into Harry Potter's trust vault! _

_Ten years ago, if you may recall, Harry Potter became the Boy-Who-Lived and saved us all from the Dark Lord You-Know-Who. He was sent to relatives to live his life in peace. Apparently, however, it was not so peaceful._

_Lucius Malfoy attempted to break into the vault by way of the Polyjuice potion. For those of you that don't know, the Polyjuice potion allows you to take the form of another for an hour per swallow. However, you need a piece of the person you're turning into._

_So how did Mr. Malfoy get his hands on Harry Potter? This reporter isn't quite sure. Mr. Malfoy, when asked by several people, including myself, refused to comment on it. According to a hidden source however, he claimed, "[No one will ever] find the little brat!"_

_The Ministry, has of yet, done nothing. Hopefully, they will get moving soon, and find our precious savior._

_-Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet_

"I don't think he'll be claiming imperious to get out of this one," Dumbledore said, getting up. "I'll be at the Ministry, to try and get things moving."


	2. 01: Narcissa's Betrayal

Note (1): I have yet to decide which way Dumbledore be leaning in this story (Good-But-Slightly-Clueless Headmaster or Not-So-Good-But-Not-Evil-Either Manipulator). A poll will be up on my profile shortly. Please vote on which you'd prefer, as I currently have the plot pulling me both ways.

Note (2): The actual idea that sparked this story, was my character was a goblin, until Harry got to go into the vault, but then I switched, and my character ended up being Lucius Malfoy.

Pairings: None

Word Count: 2,277

* * *

Amelia Bones rushed to Gringotts. An urgent letter had come for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement about Malfoy's attempt to steal the Potter boy's money. It didn't pass her notice that the letter came _after_ the Prophet broke the story. With any amount of good luck, and the backing of the outraged public, Lucius Malfoy wouldn't be getting off so easily with an 'I was imperius-ed!' defense.

"Ah, Madame Director Bones," the goblin said, ushering her into the office. "I am Ripjaw, the goblin in charge of finding the account holder named Harry Potter. It is a pleasure to meet you, though I believe we both wish the circumstances were different."

"Yes. Do you have any idea where he may be?"

"No. We can't search every Malfoy property without a warrant, and we can't get one from your Ministry – restrictive laws against goblins and such." Amelia frowned. "We have, however, taken a Merlin Stone and started scouting the area around the properties. If it begins to glow, we will know where he is immediately."

Merlin Stones were stones used by the goblins to determine how powerful a child wizard or witch was. Many purebloods had their children tested to get a list of those with similar power levels. It was used mostly to find proper future spouses for a marriage contract before the child turned eleven. Any contracts created after the child was eleven could be voided by the child themselves.

"But Merlin Stones only glow when the person using it is touching it."

"Young Mr. Potter was a powerful child. The stone began to glow when he was within the archway entrance to Diagon Alley. It was the reason his godfather was able to name him his heir to the Black Family Fortune."

"Wait a moment – godfather? Sirius Black is his godfather?"

"Yes."

"A properly-bonded godfather?"

"Yes."

"Then how is it he betrayed the Potters to their deaths? The magic involved would never allow it!"

"That's what we keep trying to tell you people when you demand we freeze his accounts."

"Another injustice done. I will see what I can do about him later, but for now, we have a missing child to find."

* * *

Amelia wasn't surprised to see Narcissa Malfoy waiting for her in her office when she got back. Though her meeting with the goblin Ripjaw had gone well, or as well as a meeting between a human and a goblin could have gone, the use of the Merlin Stone was slow going.

"Lady Malfoy, I'm afraid the Malfoy money won't be able to buy your husband out of this one."

"And I'm afraid it will," Narcissa said. The fact that she actually looked _afraid_ did surprise Amelia. "My husband has many connections, and I wouldn't be surprised if he used them, and had all this painted as a misunderstanding with the goblins at fault."

"That could start another goblin war," Amelia protested.

"Do you think he'd care? It's not like we keep all our money with the goblins. And we have plenty of other properties to go to. Perhaps one closer to Durmstrang. I've been wanting to send Draco there."

"What is it that you're here for, _exactly_, Lady Malfoy?"

"I don't know where my husband is keeping the boy, _but_ with him currently in custody, and Draco not yet seventeen, _I_ am currently in control of the Malfoy family. I would like to give the DMLE permission to search all Malfoy properties, in return for nothing found there being used against me or my son in any way."

"We clear out all the dark objects, and you get off scott free?"

"Any of the _dark_ objects you find no doubt belong to my husband anyway. And I'm sure quite a few of them are illegal – more charges you can add to his list of crimes. The more crimes, the less chance he has of getting off."

"Why?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Why do you want Lucius Malfoy in prision?" Narcissa stood slowly, and transfigured her beautiful dress robes into a plain t-shirt and pair of shorts. Bruises covered her body, varying from a sickly looking yellow, to a dark black color.

"He did that?"

"No. Lucius knows he can't touch me with harmful intent – my father managed to slip that into our marriage contract. That doesn't stop him from passing me around to his friends."

"Surely your former Family Head can do something about this?"

"Perhaps," Narcissa said, re-transfiguring her clothes and sitting back down. "If he were not already in Azkaban as a convicted Death Eater." _Black!_ Narcissa had formerly been a Black – meaning the Family Head was Sirius Black. Amelia made a mental note to send her secretary to get the files on his arrest and trial.

"I see. Will you be pressing charges against those that did…that to you?"

"No. I'll have enough trouble as it is with me screwing my husband over. The men who did this won't dare to touch me now that my husband isn't around to control me."

"Alright," Amelia said, as she took a piece of _McCarthy's Contract Creation Parchment™ – Create legal contracts with ease!_ and began writing. After she finished, she handed the contract to Narcissa for perusal.

* * *

_**Contract for this date the Thirty-First of July in the year Nineteen Ninety-One between Lady Narcissa Malfoy of the Malfoy Family, and Madame Director (Lady) Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.**_

_I, the aforementioned contract holders and the undersigned, agree to willingly uphold the directives of this contract to the best of my powers._

_I, Lady Narcissa Malfoy, in control of the Malfoy Family for the foreseeable future until my husband, Lord Lucius Malfoy is released from detainment by legal authorities, or my son Draco Malfoy, ascends to Lordship over the Malfoy Family, give the Department of Magical Law Enforcement permission to search any property owned by the Malfoy Family and to remove any illegally-held objects or persons in those properties. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement has the next three months to search the properties._

_I, Madame Director Amelia Bones, and all members of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement beneath me, will not arrest, charge, or harass Lady Narcissa or Draco Malfoy for anything found in the next three months at the properties Lady Malfoy has given us permission to search._

_This contract, upon being declared valid, will be in effect until all members involved in the contract are deceased._

* * *

There were two places for signatures, Amelia's and Narcissa's, at the bottom. Narcissa nodded after she finished reading it, and they both signed it. They held their breaths for a few moments, both giving sighs of relief when the parchment began glowing white, indicating it had been validated by magic.

"This is a list of all the properties the Malfoy Family owns," Narcissa said, handing over a thick roll of parchment."

"We will contact you as soon as we are done with one of them, though we will not be telling you which ones we will search next. I'm sure you understand."

"Yes, of course. Wouldn't want you to be accused of doing your job improperly. I would suggest _not_ using these Aurors," Narcissa said, handing over another roll of parchment. "They are in Lucius' pocket, and likely to do something to get all the evidence thrown out on a technicality."

"Thank you for the warning." Narcissa nodded and stood to leave when Amelia stopped her. "Lady Malfoy, were you aware that Sirius Black was, and still is, Harry Potter's godfather?"

"No. Obviously, they were never properly bonded considering the circumstances that saw him sent to Azkaban."

"According to the goblins, they were properly bonded." Narcissa sat back down.

"Then how is it he betrayed the Potters?"

"I don't know. I'll be getting his files later on today, but I can't bring anything in front of the Wizengamot except the accused for trials, something specifically requested of me by the Chief Warlock, or something that has to do with the Bones Family. This falls under none of those."

"You want _me_ to bring it up?"

"That's the idea. You are formerly a Black, after all. That makes him your Family Lord, especially now that Lucius is out of the picture."

"I see. I will be sure to bring it up at the next Wizengamot meeting. That's…?"

"This Friday. I'll have Black's file sent to you before then."

"Thank you."

"And thank you, Lady Malfoy. You have no idea how much help you've been." Narcissa left the office. Amelia sighed and leaned back in her chair with her eyes closed for a few minutes. Then she got up, and stuck her head outside the door.

"Rebecca?" she caught her secretary's attention. "Get me the files on Sirius Black."

"Yes, ma'am." Rebecca got up to get them.

"Oh! And while you're at it, I want Harry Potter's files as well."

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

Harry Potter, the real Harry Potter, shivered in the dark. He was in a dungeon cell of some sort. A strange rat-like creature called Dobby appeared with another tray of food – if the watery oatmeal could be called food.

Still, he got more food here than at the Dursley's. And less chores. He wouldn't really mind it so much if only it were a little warmer, or perhaps he had a better not-so-holey blanket, and if the man with long blond hair would stop pulling on his.

A strong stench reminded his nose that it was still there, and Harry added occasional trips to the bathroom to the list of things that would make this place better.

"Can Dobby be doing anything else for the Great Harry Potter?"

"You could let me out to use the bathroom."

"Oohhh," Dobby whined, pulling on his ears. "Dobby can'ts do that Harry Potter sir. Master Malfoy says you has to stays in the cage. Dobby is sorry."

"That's alright Dobby. This place is still better than the Dursley's house I guess."

"The Great Harry Potter sir, doesn'ts like his home?"

"That place is _not_ my home. It never has been."

* * *

Unnoticed by everyone living on Privet Drive, Number Four flashed red once – twice – and finally a third time. The Blood Wards keeping any wizards not keyed into them away from the house fell quietly.

A little gizmo in the office of Headmaster Albus Dumbledore gave its final few spins of life, before it too died quietly. Dumbledore wouldn't notice it until much, much later.

* * *

Rebecca was from a minor pureblood family called the McCarty's – not to be confused with their more popular cousins, the McCarthy's, whose brand of _Create-It-Legal-Parchments_ were used almost everywhere in the Ministry of Magic. Still, her Uncle, technically Great Granduncle, Jared McCarthy, had gotten her the job as secretary to the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Madame Director Bones had been wary at first, of a pureblood getting the job due to family connections, but quickly warmed up to her when she had proved herself by getting one of the Minister's undersecretaries, one Delores Umbridge, to sit down and wait for her appointment, instead of just barging in fifteen minutes early as she usually did.

Rumors of how she did it had mutated rapidly, and she wasn't quite sure which version of the story got to the file clerks, but it had to have been one of the worse ones, as every one of them was now frightened to death of her (save that one strange man in a kilt). Still, it made her job of getting files a lot easier.

"Sirius Black's file," one clerk said in a squeaky voice, before disappearing back into the archives. Rebecca frowned. For such a dangerous and well known criminal, you'd think the file would be a lot thicker. She shrugged it off. It wasn't her business. She was just a secretary. Let Amelia deal with it.

"I can't seem to find Harry Potter's file," another clerk – the strange man in the kilt – said.

"It's got to be down here somewhere," Rebecca said. This was the Ministry Archives – _everything_ was down here somewhere.

"Yes, but I can't seem to-" Rebecca saw three quick red flashes.

"Are you alright?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, I'm fine. Ah! Here it is. Harry Potter's file. I don't know why I couldn't see it before." Rebecca frowned again, wondering if the red flashes had anything to do with it. She'd tell Amelia about it when she handed in the files. Her heart stopped as she saw Potter's file. It was even thinner than Black's.

"Shouldn't there be more here."

"I…I suppose so. Yes, in fact, I'm sure it should be thicker, but that's the only file we have on Harry Potter."

"You're sure? What about those red flashes from earlier?" He looked at her puzzled.

"What red flashes?"

"You didn't see them?"

"No. Are you sure you weren't just seeing things?"

"Doubtful. My family is resistant to mind tricks. Thank you anyway."

"Of course. Have a nice day."

"You too." Something strange was going on, and Rebecca wasn't sure she liked it.

* * *

Sirius Black lay in a fitful sleep, in even worse conditions than Harry Potter. Sirius had no blanket at all, and his own gruel might have well has been a rock. The cooks of Azkaban had been taking cooking lessons from Hagrid, Sirius had thought one day.

He got a little amusement from the thought until the Dementors had sucked that from him too. The only thing they hadn't touched was the mantra currently keeping him sane.

I'm innocent. I'm innocent. Innocent. I'm innocent. I didn't do it. I'm innocent. It wasn't me.

Innocent.


	3. 02: Getting Warmer

Note (1): Not-So-Good-But-Not-Evil-Either Manipulator Dumbledore won the poll 29 to 27.

Note (2): I know it's short, but I planned for the chapter to be cut off where it is, and writing on my Fire is a pain. Also, if you see any mistakes, leave them in a review and I'll fix them. I caught a few of them, but I doubt I got all of them.

Pairings: None

Word Count: 1,496

* * *

Amelia frowned at the thinness of the two files. Sirius Black's file was alarmingly thin; with such a dangerous criminal, there should be quarterly reports on what he's been saying and doing and how the Dementors affect him. An Auror should have been assigned to deal with that after the trial, but as Amelia was quickly coming to realize while reading the file, there hadn't been one.

It wasn't uncommon at the time for Death Eaters to not be put on trial. Before every trial, there was a meeting of three Wizengamot members and the accused and the Auror who investigated. The three members would then decide if there was enough evidence to go to court, or as was more likely, would accept a bribe for the Death Eater's release.

Corruption ran wild in the Wizengamot in those days - not that it had changed much. Ten times, laws that would allow the DMLE to investigate those suspected of corruption came before the Wizengamot, and ten times they were defeated, almost unanimously. Most of the members assumed they were the ones that the law was about, and so voted against it. Those who weren't corrupt themselves, were either in Dumbledore's block (and voted for it) or were scared the Death Eater's would come after them for making easy getaways impossible (and voted against it).

Sirius Black had been put before Barty Crouch, then Undersecretary Cornelius Fudge, and Byron Longbottom, Augusta's husband, who had been killed the night his son and daughter-in-law were tortured. According to the report, the meeting was held for five minutes with only those four men, and Black had been silenced throughout. Afterwards, Black was taken to Azkaban and that was it. There was nothing else in the file - no trial transcript, no prisoner reports, even the man's transfer to Azkaban was written on a small, barely legible piece of parchment.

Even worse than the thinness of Black's file, was the thinness of Potter's. It should have had the address updated (it still read Potter Cottage, Godric's Hollow), even if it only said classified. The magical guardian and their address (even though Potter lived with muggle relatives) should be listed, but it was still Sirius Black. There were no reports from Wizarding Child Services, even though there should have been biannual visits at the very least, as required by law when a magical child was placed with muggles. Harry Potter being who he was, there would have no doubt been many more, solely for the bragging rights of knowing the boy.

Amelia sighed - this was beginning to look worse and worse. She duplicated Black's file, and sent it to Narcissa, and then began looking over the financial reports of the Malfoy and Potter families, supplied by Ripjaw. The Malfoy's were nearly broke - or at least nearly broke compared to the vastness of the Malfoy Vaults when Lucius inherited them. There were only three million galleons left in Gringotts with the Malfoy name on them.

The Potter boy on the other hand, had seven billion waiting for him to turn seventeen. His trust vault alone had two million. Then there was the other six billion from families that had left their fortune to the Boy-Who-Lived and then passed on. There was another two billion that he'd get from another three families if they died out before changing their wills. And he was all set to inherit the Black's four hundred million. It must have looked irresistible to Lucius.

And then he found out the Potter's had high security protections on the vault. Amelia smiled at the thought of Lucius Malfoy in a goblin prison, forced to shovel dragon dung for the rest of his life. Her secretary's head poked through the door.

"Undersecretary Umbridge is here to see you, and she demands to be seen now rather than make an appointment. Would you like me to scare her away?"

"No, send her in. I'd rather deal with her now than give her time to simmer." The last of Amelia's smile faded away as she spoke. She idly wondered if Delores was related to Dementors, with the way she sucked all happiness out of the area around her.

* * *

Kingsley Shacklebolt knocked on the fifth door in thirty-six hours. He was leading the primary team to find the Potter boy. His team would make a cursory search of each property, and then call in another team to deal with whatever they found, and move on.

"Can Dobby be helping yous, sirs?" the elf that answered the door said. Then he saw Hestia Jones, and added, "and miss?"

"Are your masters here, elf?" Kingsley asked. His next question would be if he was the highest ranking elf on the property.

"Dobby is the only elf on the property, sirs and miss," Dobby answered, after telling them none of the Malfoy's were there. Elves could accept legal papers for their family, but only if they were the highest ranking elf on the property and the family they belonged to weren't in.

So far, each elf served had taken an unusual amount of glee in telling the Aurors of places they'd _like to avoid_, or _wouldn't like to see_. Each of the Aurors with elves at home made a mental note to treat their house elves even better than they did already.

"This is a warrant to search the property," Kingsley said, handing the elf a piece of paper. Dobby's eyes grew wide.

"The property, sirs and miss, or just the house?" he asked.

"The property," Kingsley said. "The whole property." Dobby's eyes grew even wider, and then he grinned, and motioned for them all to enter.

"Sirs and miss must come in at once. Sirs and miss wouldn't like to see what's in the room behind the third bookshelf from the left along the back wall of the library, or..." Dobby began listing off places as the other elves had done, finishing with, "and sirs and miss will find nothing of interest underneath the old shack just beyond the tree line there." Dobby pointed out a window, and Kingsley made note of the spot he pointed to - just at the beginning of a thick forest behind the property.

"I see. Well, thank you. Well take great care to avoid those places," Kingsley said, giving the elf a wink. Dobby gave him another grin and then disappeared with a snap of his fingers. "Alright, you heard him, start with the ground floor and go up, pay attention to the rooms he mentioned. Jones, you're with me. We're going to check out that shack he mentioned."

Jones nodded, and the rest of the Aurors began to move. Kingsley hoped they had more luck with this property than the others. There's no telling what condition the boy would be in when they found him.

* * *

"Really, Delores, I don't see how that's any of your business." The woman had come right in, and immediately demanded to know what the meeting with Narcissa was about.

"A private meeting with Lucius Malfoy's wife wouldn't look good right for you right now, Amelia," the toad-like woman said. "Especially if the press got wind of it."

"Hmm, you know, I have Lucius Malfoy's bank statements here. Here's a transfer of thirty thousand galleons on the first of last August, and another here of twenty-five thousand on the third of last July." Umbridge got paler and paler as Amelia spoke. "You know what, Delores? I think these were transfered to _your_ account. Imagine if the press got wind of _that_. All you need to know is that she's helping us find what her husband did with Harry Potter. Now, _please_ get out of my office!"

Umbridge practically flew out of her office, moving far quicker than she ever had before. Several people saw her, and by the end of the day, Amelia's already fearsome reputation had grown.

* * *

"Oh wow, look at this," Jones said. They had made it to the shack, and found the trapdoor that would lead them below, only to find massive wards surrounding it.

"Either Potter's here, or there's something else that can get Malfoy put away for a long time," Kingsley said. "How long to break the wards?" Jones was one of three ward specialists on his ten-man team.

"An hour or two tops. The wards are relatively simple, but they're all tangled together. I have to untangle them first, then dismantle them." Kingsley nodded.

"As quick as you can without rushing Jones." Even if Potter wasn't here, his team had one more property to look at, before another primary team took over so his could get some rest. Kingsley began searching the immediate area for anything else they could pin on Malfoy. Half an hour later, he got the scare of his life when Jones began cursing.

"Shit, shit! No, no, no, no, don't do that. Shack! If Potter's in there, we need to get him out, now!"


End file.
